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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Should the Flail be a Simple Melee Weapon?
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<blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 8751107" data-attributes="member: 52734"><p>Using a flail to thresh wheat is nothing like attempting to use it against a moving, living target. I've been to SCA events and I've seen several people bean themselves after a bad swing that missed the target or bounced off armor/shield - though those have all been the one-handed ball-and-chain flails. </p><p></p><p>5E D&D doesn't use the War flail, which would be 1E's Footman's flail (and the current flail would be a horseman's flail). Also, while it isn't relevant to D&D, a blocked flail hit takes the user a moment or two to recover and get the ball-and-chain type flail back into a powerful swing. It works well if you can hit the opponent and move on quickly to the next (such as on horseback), but in a one-on-one fight I've seen its best to drop it for another weapon.</p><p></p><p>I could see the War flail/Footman's flail being a polearm, used with Polearm mastery. In 1E, it did basically 1d8 damage (actually 1d6+1). The "horseman's flail" on the 5E weapon chart really should be doing 1d6 if you look at 1E (actually 1d4+1).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stormonu, post: 8751107, member: 52734"] Using a flail to thresh wheat is nothing like attempting to use it against a moving, living target. I've been to SCA events and I've seen several people bean themselves after a bad swing that missed the target or bounced off armor/shield - though those have all been the one-handed ball-and-chain flails. 5E D&D doesn't use the War flail, which would be 1E's Footman's flail (and the current flail would be a horseman's flail). Also, while it isn't relevant to D&D, a blocked flail hit takes the user a moment or two to recover and get the ball-and-chain type flail back into a powerful swing. It works well if you can hit the opponent and move on quickly to the next (such as on horseback), but in a one-on-one fight I've seen its best to drop it for another weapon. I could see the War flail/Footman's flail being a polearm, used with Polearm mastery. In 1E, it did basically 1d8 damage (actually 1d6+1). The "horseman's flail" on the 5E weapon chart really should be doing 1d6 if you look at 1E (actually 1d4+1). [/QUOTE]
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Should the Flail be a Simple Melee Weapon?
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